Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-05-06
THE LABOR QUESTION.
Address Before the Boston Central Labor
lyceum by Edward Atkinson

address Before the Boston Central Labor
Iyceum by Edward Atkinson.
Edward Atkinson's lecture before the
Central labor lyceum at Boston, Sunday
evening was full of sound sense and truth,
such as men will do well to heed. He
touched upon the evil side OF labor organ
iHation, its attempt to monopolze the
working for wages, its coercion of those
not members and its tendency to drive
away capital. He predicted shortening
Of the hours of labor in the near future,
bat denied that statute law was the meth
Cd OF efTecting it,
Among other things he said: In rela-
zion to a day of eight hours, if you cut
down the work in factories in workshops,
and in the building trades to eight hours,
you cut down the product. Then there
will be fewer goods, fewer stores fewer
tools, few houses, and that means a higher
price and q higher rent. Because. if you
count all the mechanics and all who work
in the factories whose time can be short
ened by rule, there are only about POO in
each 1000 of these who work. Who are
the rest Why, the farmers, the railroad
men, the shopkeeperS and their clerks,
also the wives of all the mechanics, who
have never been counted. Can you reach
them by any eght-hour law Who pro
poses an eight-hour law for women in the
work of their own household Is it fair
deal when you make a law OF the State or
n by-l law OF the trades union that makes
the many Workharder in order that the
few may work less That is not what
you mean, but that is what you do, or
would do ii you could.
You say there is enough product made
now in eight hours to give every one a
good living if it We're only divided on the
square Some of you say that If you could
get hold of what capitalists take out of
the product and divide it among work
men, eight hours work or less wonld give
You just as good a living, or Il better one,
than you get now. | tell you the waste
by capitalists is nothing compared to the
waste by workingmen, and, so far as | can
see, there is no way in which to shorten
the hours of labor except to do more or
make more in less time, because labor
now consumes 50 nearly the whole of what
there is that if all the waste of rich men
or by rich men We're taken from them and
divided among the workmen, it would not
make a difference of 10 minutes a day. If
it We're divided i'll money it would not
give the whole body of the workmen the
price of an extra glass of beer day. If it
we're not divided evenly, then the deal
would be no more fair than it is now,
would it
| tell you my friends, when you are
talking about the wages due to laborers
you had better measure the wages due to
capitalists, to inventors to men of science,
10 men who work with their heads. 1t is
to them you owe the fact that you can
now get twice as much out of 10 hours
work as men and woman could get so
years ago out of IL, 10, IA. Labor with
out capital counts one in production, and
with capital it sometimes counts hun
bred. Can the hundred manage the cap
tai as well as the one No. If they
could you would all work on the coopera-
ave plan. The reason you do not cooper
ate now is that you can not in that way
get as much out of your work as you do
loW cut of your wages
IL relation TO the division of profits the
speaker said: Suppose you take all the
profit and divide it among the hands
Then you say they would spend it in sup
porting those who now work for the own
ers of all the capital. But you know very
well that what mill hands spend would go
in a very different direction. 1t might be
Just rs useful 1t might be all right All
1 have to say is this; When you take
away the profits from the owners and
managers of the mills, then all the makers
of the fine cabinet work, of pianos, of fine
paper hangings, all the carpenters and
houses, and all the skilled mechanics, of
whom there are probably a good many
here, who now work for the owners of the
mills, and all the teachers and musicians
employed by them, would be obliged to
ind some other kind of work. They must
food OF go into the cotton mills to make
more cloth. There is food enough and
cloth enough already.
All this talk abOnt wage slavery is non
sense. There is no slave labor-no com
pulsion in this country now, unless it is
The compulsion of the Knights of Labor
and that is pretty much played out al
ready. The poor are not poor because the
rich are rich. The poor are not poor be
cause capital takes bigger share than il
ought. The poor are great deal less pool
and great deal less numerous than they
would be except for the service of capital
Of which they enjoy the greater part of tn,
benefit. The poor are not poor becaus,
they have no land. Land won't save
man who doesn't know how to use it, Tn,
land of the Indians does them no good
and there is plenty of land down Souti
that can be bought for dollar an acre
yet the people on it work harder than yol
do, for they have but little capital to hell
them. You are not compelled to sta!
here. You can go there and worklharder
but be your own capitalist.
The way to shorten your time and worl
less hours is to do more while you d,
work, and don't know of any other way
never could find one. Do the best yol
know how. Work by the piece, work b,
the hour If you have any snap in you ii
these times, you can save something
Now am going to hit you hard. | an
going to tell you which man will come il
ahead and which man won't among thos
aN ron rIT hos Mt ftW..A .t.I.N y.